 | In an effort to empower grassroots energy in the Republican Party, OKGOP Chair, Pam Pollard is granting broad latitude to the counties and precincts as they build on an unprecedented victory in the general election. In the past, state chairmen have dictated the very day and hour when all Republicans were to gather in their precincts. More recently we've seen state leadership define a set week or month for precincts. Pollard has determined just to give the 77 county organizations a hard deadline of March 25th, for submitting key info to state convention organizers. But while the rules call for meetings in each precinct, some county leaders have conspired to usurp the of the permannent precinct organization by ordering them to meet at other locations, most of which are outside the boundaries. Some urban precincts are sent far away from their metro area. |
Two years ago, the Oklahoma NAACP protested the Tulsa GOP for making the North Tulsa (predominantly black minority neighborhoods) travel to rural Collinsvile, OK. But they further mislead them by erroniously telling them weeks ahead of time to go to an East Tulsa Library. County Commissioner, John Smalligo was one of those who wasted over an hour in city traffic and county roads, to eventually show up late to the location dictated by the Tulsa County Chair. Some citizens who rely on mass transit were shut out of the party process because of the undue burden.
| One of Tulsa County's most effective precinct leaders has been Larry Williamson of precinct 456. The current county chairman, Mike Ford, fought hard to exclude the 12 delegates from 456, because they held their own successful meeting in their own neighborhood. Rep. Brumbaugh and Sen. Dahm came to the aid of their constituents and led the floor struggle at the Tulsa County Convention. Ford lost that expulsion battle by a 2:3 vote ratio. But none of the platform planks, party amendments, or committee assignments were granted to precinct 456. Chairman Pollard was there to watch the convention floor overrule Ford. She determined to not let this happen again. Here's how our interview went, today:
|  "I am working on the language, but we will guarantee all precincts will be allowed to meet in their precinct if they choose, BUT they must work with the county chairmen on the locations and announcements of the meetings." - Pam Pollard  Rep. David Brumbaugh meets with Broken Arrow constituents, Larry Williamson (left), and Ronda Vuillemont-Smith (right) |
